Under cover of darkness: Two levies officials injured in grenade attack

KHAR:

Two levies personnel were injured in a hand grenade attack on a check post in Khar, Bajaur Agency late Monday night.

A political administration official said unidentified militants hurled the grenade at a check post in Parsh area of Khar tehsil a little before midnight. Two levies official on duty at the time were critically injured and shifted to Agency Headquarters Hospital while the militants managed to escape following the attack.

The political administration launched a search operation after the incident but no arrests were made till this report was filed.

Bajaur Agency shares a border with the Afghan province of Kunar and has witnessed a spike in attacks since the military launched operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan.

According to a security official, militants have taken shelter in Kunar and are orchestrating attacks from there to target security personnel and paramilitary forces in Pakistan through improvised explosive devices and heavy arms.

Last week, a jirga of the Salarzai tribe in Bajaur pledged to help the government combat militancy and clarified they would not shelter any militants or provide assistance to them.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.